MA Y 207 



for 14/. and the otln-r for 1 1/. 'I"he latter of these was old 

 New-born i'ride, the mother of the herd and once the best animal 

 in it. It goes to my heart to have parted with her, and I am glad 

 that I was away and knew nothing of it, for I understand that she 

 was bought for butcher's meat, and by now doubtless has been 

 killed and eaten. In farming, unfortunately, there is no room for 

 sentiment ; if an animal ceases to be profitable it must go for the 

 best price that it will fetch, though when one has been accustomed 

 to it for many years this seems hard. Exit New-born Pride in 

 the twentieth year of her age. I wonder how long a healthy cow 

 would last if well cared for and fed ? Nobody seems to know, 

 because nobody has ever tried, but I imagine that it would live 

 for thirty-five or forty years. ' New-born ' was only in late middle- 

 life. Old age still stretched before her. Had she been placed in 

 a home for superannuated cows I believe that she would have 

 flourished well into the next century. It is possible, indeed, that 

 if we had kept her she might have produced several more calves, 

 perhaps four or five ; but after a certain period of life the milk 

 of cows becomes thin and almost worthless, also their calves 

 are small. Therefore they have to go. 



On the same day, the i6th, ten lambs were sold at 305-. 

 each; a fair price, as the trade in lambs is not brisk this )ear. 



We are now making about 67 lb. of butter a week, which is 

 fetching tenpence and elevenpence a pound. 



To-day the weather is still very cold and dull, and since nine " 

 o'clock I think that at one time and another the wind has blown 

 from every point of the compass , while after sunset a violent storm 

 of rain came up out of a sky of extraordinary and vivid blackness. 

 I never remember a month of such wretched weather as we have -'=(ruA 

 experienced this May, which has not brought us a single breath 

 of summer, I have not kept any record of the readings of the 

 thermometer, but, if I may judge by my own sensations, I think 

 that the temperature of May has been colder and more miserable 

 than was that of last December. 



This afternoon I walked up the beach to a beautiful spot ^kj\.^ '■^' 



